What happened to the FFXI mobile version? Can we have some news?

[Alhanelem]

I think you are right, FFXI never did these campaigns so early into its life.

False. They most definitely did.

The first "come back to the game" campaign I can find was on March 4, 2005 (e.g. over 11 years ago). The game must have been doing really badly back then if they had a return to vanadiel campaign! /sarcasm
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/top...ics200504.html
There may have been one before that but the site's news archives don't go back any further.

This is just another silly comment looking to rile anyone who happens to like the game. It's a ludicrous assumption clearly intended to troll, by a person who resents the games existence and desires to see it crash and burn. Look, I know very well that many FFXI users blame FFXIV for the state of their game, but that's a poor excuse to make silly, unproveable assumptions. SE gets twice as much money from me every month because they made two great games, neither of which I'm able to quit because I've become so permanently attached to. If you don't want to like it, that's fine, but hoping for a game's faliure when there are people out there who are enjoying it is really short sighted and cold. Even if it vanished off the face of the earth right now, it wouldn't bring the golden years back.

Frankly if I have 2 minute queues for pvp as a DD job (and instant as a whm or sch) that means the game is in great shape, because not very many are into pvp.

(THere, I'm done, now that I've taken the bait like the fool I am.)

[machini]

I think you are right, FFXI never did these campaigns so early into its life.

Well, consider the fact that they've spent something around half a billion USD on XIV, just on 'creation', between 1.0 and 2.0. That's not including operating costs, nor the costs for further development. That's also an underestimate. Last time I actually went digging for more specific numbers I think i twas something more like 800 million USD total. At 1 million subscribers per month, it'd take just under 4.5 years to break even. That's not counting operating costs, nor costs of further development, though. XI was their cash cow, which they sacrificed for XIV, which is going to need more time than XI has even been around to become as profitable as XI was before XIV even came out.

[Alhanelem]

Well, consider the fact that they've spent something around half a billion USD on XIV, just on 'creation', between 1.0 and 2.0. That's not including operating costs, nor the costs for further development. That's also an underestimate. Last time I actually went digging for more specific numbers I think i twas something more like 800 million USD total. At 1 million subscribers per month, it'd take just under 4.5 years to break even. That's not counting operating costs, nor costs of further development, though. XI was their cash cow, which they sacrificed for XIV, which is going to need more time than XI has even been around to become as profitable as XI was before XIV even came out.

I like how i'm the only one that posted any proof of everything, while everyone else has talked out their behinds. There's something seriously wrong with your numbers, as that would be far and away a world record spent on development for a video game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...mes_to_develop
Prior to your assertion, the most expensive to develop game ever made according to wikipedia is Star Wars: The Old Republic at 200 million. You're asserting that FFXIV cost 4 times as much as that (But it's not even on this list).

I've not even seen any such numbers for FFXI or FFXIV anywhere, so if such numbers are available, those numbers don't put them on this list and thus you are wrong. I've also looked up several other lists and can't find one with either FFXI or FFXIV on it (Though FF7. Most other lists are citing Destiny as the most expensive video game ever made at around $500 million in total costs (not just development). Of note, Final Fantasy VII remains a top contender of most expensive games at around $214 million (inflation adjusted).

(As a side note, there is one game on this list, All Points Bulletin, that was failed and redeveloped like FFXIV, which clocked in at around 100 million total costs (not just development)

[machini]

You're fine to believe whatever you want to believe, or disbelieve similarly. Finer minds than I have taken cracks at this, and you're free to go to google.com and type in stuff like "how much did it cost to make final fantasy 14?"

You might also want to consider the fact that "Final Fantasy XIV" and "Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn" are two separate games. You seem to not be understanding that.

[Alhanelem]

You're fine to believe whatever you want to believe, or disbelieve similarly. Finer minds than I have taken cracks at this, and you're free to go to google.com and type in stuff like "how much did it cost to make final fantasy 14?"

If the game isn't on any list of most expensive games that I can find, then I question any source saying that it cost more than any such game on any such list. I didn't just look at one. I googled it (as you said) and found dozens of lists and neither FFXIV, A Realm Reborn, or Heavensward were on any of these lists. Googling as you said, I only found a few forum posts from years ago claiming a combined marketing and development cost for the game at ~400 million (I repeat combined development and marketing, compared to the alleged $500 million for development alone stated above), although this figure was estimated based on SE's 2012-2013 financial report, and not in some document specifically detailing FFXIV's development costs- figures that, like subscriber/account numbers for any MMO today, are closely guarded. So it is likely that it cost a couple hundred million to develop, but there are no reliable figures in existence t hat I could find from googling several different search phrases, thus its lack of appearance on any "expensive games" list.

Considering that these lists include MMOs and pseudo MMOs, with the most expensive one (Destiny) costing somewhere around 200 million not including marketing, that casts serious doubt on the figures presented in the post above mine, which are outlandish compared to the couple hundred million of Destiny and SWTOR.

You might also want to consider the fact that "Final Fantasy XIV" and "Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn" are two separate games. You seem to not be understanding that.

I'm well aware of this fact (As portrayed by the industry, of course. Yoshida considers FFXIV to be "version 1.0", A Realm Reborn to be 2.0, and Heavensward to be 3.0; though the industry considers any distinct SKU to be a seperate title). Also, if no publc figures are released for a game, they either wont appear on any lists or people will be giving guessitmations based on observation.

But how we got here is someone asserting that FFXIV must be doing badly because they had a "come back" campaign. Which is a nonsense argument because FFXI aslo had a come back campaign within the first few years of its release, back during its alleged heyday and peak population.

I get it, you all hate FFXIV and blame it for FFXI's state. That's fine, but it's not an excuse to make stuff up for a smear campaign, though. and that "800 million" figure is most definitely made up. All three SKUs combined won't likely add up to anywhere near that amount in development costs- The closest thing I can find to a real number, mentioned above, said 400 million for development AND marketing (probably half and half). It is extremely unlikely the expansion cost anywhere near as much to make and further unlikely that 1.0 cost that much to make (especially given how much copy pasta it had lol).

(as a side note, the post discussing the previously mentioned SE financial report in 2013 said "based on this data, Square Enix most likely won't survive 2013." Well, they're still here. >.>)

[machini]

The most expensive ones anyone has admitted to.

If you had a multiple hundreds of millions of dollars wasted in a flop, you'd not advertise the fact. That's why exact figures are so hard.

[Pups323]

The most expensive ones anyone has admitted to.

If you had a multiple hundreds of millions of dollars wasted in a flop, you'd not advertise the fact. That's why exact figures are so hard.

Except you cant just hide stuff when you are a publicly traded company. There are financial reports for a reason.

[Alhanelem]

The most expensive ones anyone has admitted to.

If you had a multiple hundreds of millions of dollars wasted in a flop, you'd not advertise the fact. That's why exact figures are so hard.

Nearly all MMOs today do not release their account numbers or profits, reagrdless of success level. WoW in particular, the most well known and probably financially sucessful MMO ever, does not release lots of information about its financial state or number of active users. Like most MMOs, they typically just say "hundreds of thousands" or "millions of " players. Since even the most obviously successful games don't release much information of this sort, you can't presume that a lack of information must mean something is flopping. Frankly, when I can find more players in just the public areas of a FFXIV server (not counting all the instances that are active at any given time) than I can find in several FFXI servers, they can't be flopping that hard. You simply want it to die so you will find a way to interpret anything you see in a negative light.

Except you cant just hide stuff when you are a publicly traded company. There are financial reports for a reason.

Publicly released financial reports are often of limited use in determining what you seek to determine, as they don't often (and didn't in this case) break down all the exact details, just the sum totals of categories. Whatever a company can keep close to its chest it will, whether it's good or bad. (Note also that people thought SE was going to die or be bought out three years ago based on their financial report. Obviously, that didn't happen)

You wanting a something to fail and interpreting any news or information you can in a deliberately negative light does not make something a failiure. Frankly I think more of you should be paying attention to the fact that regardless of FFXIV's existence, FFXI has continued to persist far longer than anyone at SE ever expected, and I'm fairly certain that the last two expansions and the add-ons were never originally planned.

[Catmato]

So how 'bout that FFXI mobile game that nobody wants?

[Alhanelem]

So how 'bout that FFXI mobile game that nobody wants?

Does really nobody want it? I'd want it if it was like, worth playing. I'm not about to count it out til we see it (buuut, who knows when that will be?).